British built yachts

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Swan, Oyster, pre 2000 Moody, Westerly to name a few..
But if I had the funds this would be on my list to view.. Dutch build..
https://www.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/ko...or-sale/617616

Oh, yes! Good eye, Boatie!

[Higherfield26]

Thanks everyone for very helpful advice (lovely scene setting TrentePied!) & have sent a request for info on those two boats mentioned - good picks! Defo don't want to spend as much money if we don't have to, it would be very tight but I had got the impression, the older the boat, the more to go wrong.. So many things to think about, it feels like a bit of a minefield!
Thanks again

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Higherfield26

Thanks everyone for very helpful advice (lovely scene setting TrentePied!) & have sent a request for info on those two boats mentioned - good picks! Defo don't want to spend as much money if we don't have to, it would be very tight but I had got the impression, the older the boat, the more to go wrong.. So many things to think about, it feels like a bit of a minefield!
Thanks again

As a lifetime boat shopper I wish you well! Please let us know what you settle on.

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Yes, indeed :-). Winches worth 5 grand a pop no doubt make a lot of things much easier. But then, the 20 grand (or even just 10) buried in winches goes a long way towards other things if you are set up physically and mentally to handle 400 SqFt without mechanical advantage.

The MAIN on a Bristol 45.5 is about 400 SqFt out of the scant 1,000 total, and it was the main I was talking about. Headsls are a kettle of fish of a different colour, I think you will agree :-)

My personal rule of thumb is that 400 is about the upper limit of what it is COMFORTABLE for anybody to handle, and our OP (let alone the kiddies) sez she is of scant experience.

TP

If the main is 400 that means 100% foresail is 600 and 130% that much more. My wife could handle it all quite comfortably. We set the mainsheet up in an interesting way. When we bought the boat it deadended at the traveller on the aft edge of the cockpit and was lead to a winch on the cabin top. That did not seem like an efficient setup so we put a big-ass Harken ratcheting triple block on the traveller. We used this block probably 97% of the time and used the end of the sheet winch only in more extreme conditions.

Sail-handling was all very comfortable. The vast sums spent on cockpit winches (the secondaries were 55s) added much to the ease of handling such a big (displacement if not LOA) boat double handed, or in fact singlehanded if one person was asleep or otherwise busy. Very much appreciated on the windy bit from Cocos-Keeling to South Africa when we got quite used to 35+ knots for days (weeks).